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New Living Translation |   | |
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| | Gen 44:1 | When his brothers were ready to leave, Joseph gave these instructions to the man in charge of his household: "Fill each of their sacks with as much grain as they can carry, and put each man's money back into his sack.
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| | Gen 44:2 | Then put my personal silver cup at the top of the youngest brother's sack, along with his grain money." So the household manager did as he was told.
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| | Gen 44:3 | The brothers were up at dawn and set out on their journey with their loaded donkeys.
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| | Gen 44:4 | But when they were barely out of the city, Joseph said to his household manager, "Chase after them and stop them. Ask them, 'Why have you repaid an act of kindness with such evil?
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| | Gen 44:5 | What do you mean by stealing my master's personal silver drinking cup, which he uses to predict the future? What a wicked thing you have done!' "
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| | Gen 44:6 | So the man caught up with them and spoke to them in the way he had been instructed.
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| | Gen 44:7 | "What are you talking about?" the brothers responded. "What kind of people do you think we are, that you accuse us of such a terrible thing?
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| | Gen 44:8 | Didn't we bring back the money we found in our sacks? Why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house?
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| | Gen 44:9 | If you find his cup with any one of us, let that one die. And all the rest of us will be your master's slaves forever."
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| | Gen 44:10 | "Fair enough," the man replied, "except that only the one who stole it will be a slave. The rest of you may go free."
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| | Gen 44:11 | They quickly took their sacks from the backs of their donkeys and opened them.
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| | Gen 44:12 | Joseph's servant began searching the oldest brother's sack, going on down the line to the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack!
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| | Gen 44:13 | At this, they tore their clothing in despair, loaded the donkeys again, and returned to the city.
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| | Gen 44:14 | Joseph was still at home when Judah and his brothers arrived, and they fell to the ground before him.
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| | Gen 44:15 | "What were you trying to do?" Joseph demanded. "Didn't you know that a man such as I would know who stole it?"
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| | Gen 44:16 | And Judah said, "Oh, my lord, what can we say to you? How can we plead? How can we prove our innocence? God is punishing us for our sins. My lord, we have all returned to be your slaves--we and our brother who had your cup in his sack."
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| | Gen 44:17 | "No," Joseph said. "Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go home to your father."
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| | Gen 44:18 | Then Judah stepped forward and said, "My lord, let me say just this one word to you. Be patient with me for a moment, for I know you could have me killed in an instant, as though you were Pharaoh himself.
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| | Gen 44:19 | "You asked us, my lord, if we had a father or a brother.
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| | Gen 44:20 | We said, 'Yes, we have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, his youngest son. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him very much.'
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| | Gen 44:21 | And you said to us, 'Bring him here so I can see him.'
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| | Gen 44:22 | But we said to you, 'My lord, the boy cannot leave his father, for his father would die.'
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| | Gen 44:23 | But you told us, 'You may not see me again unless your youngest brother is with you.'
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| | Gen 44:24 | So we returned to our father and told him what you had said.
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| | Gen 44:25 | And when he said, 'Go back again and buy us a little food,'
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| | Gen 44:26 | we replied, 'We can't unless you let our youngest brother go with us. We won't be allowed to see the man in charge of the grain unless our youngest brother is with us.'
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| | Gen 44:27 | Then my father said to us, 'You know that my wife had two sons,
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| | Gen 44:28 | and that one of them went away and never returned--doubtless torn to pieces by some wild animal. I have never seen him since.
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| | Gen 44:29 | If you take away his brother from me, too, and any harm comes to him, you would bring my gray head down to the grave in deep sorrow.'
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| | Gen 44:30 | "And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my father without the boy. Our father's life is bound up in the boy's life.
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| | Gen 44:31 | When he sees that the boy is not with us, our father will die. We will be responsible for bringing his gray head down to the grave in sorrow.
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| | Gen 44:32 | My lord, I made a pledge to my father that I would take care of the boy. I told him, 'If I don't bring him back to you, I will bear the blame forever.'
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| | Gen 44:33 | Please, my lord, let me stay here as a slave instead of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
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| | Gen 44:34 | For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I cannot bear to see what this would do to him."
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